


The Sounds of Hope Shall Never Fade

by Hannah_Girl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abuse, Alternate World, Artificial insemination (attempted), F/F, F/M, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Pain, Pregnancy, SPNDystopiaBang2020, Sexuality, Torture, Trauma, comet apocalypse, evil!Dean, evil!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:28:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24166615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hannah_Girl/pseuds/Hannah_Girl
Summary: Castiel and Hannah fall into an alternate reality where they encounter their counterparts in this world. Castielle (Castiel’s female vessel) and Hana (Hannah’s male vessel) have endured decades of torment at the hands of these humans. Castiel and Hannah meet Sam and Dean, but these aren't the Sam and Dean they know. They are a twisted, cruel, uncaring version of their real-world counterparts and they see the angels and their powerhouse supply of angel grace as commodities. The Angels power their underground world after a comet strike destroyed life on the surface. Now, this small underground civilization, one of many all over the world, has running water, food, power, and other necessities all powered by angel grace. Sam and Dean will do whatever it takes to hold onto their four precious powerhouses, and have long since given up on caring about the comfort of their angelic captives. Castiel, Hannah, and their counterparts must endure endless medical experiments, painful grace extractions, and deplorable living conditions, and somehow they must find a way to survive because the future of heaven may hang in the balance
Relationships: Castiel's Female Vessel/Hannah (Supernatural), Castiel's Female Vessel/Hannah's Male Vessel (Supernatural), Castiel/Hannah (Supernatural), Castiel/Hannah's Male Vessel (Supernatural)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2
Collections: SPN Dystopia Bang 2020





	1. Alone In The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I want to note that Castielle is portrayed by Jessa Danielson, the actress who played Castiel’s female vessel in the episode “Lily Sunder Has No Regrets” and Hana is of course, Lee Majdoub, who played Hannah’s male vessel in season 11. I also just wanted to say I really enjoyed this bang. It was my first time ever participating in a bang and I had an amazing time with it. My artist partner, majesticduxk, has created some awesome watercolor drawings for this bang which can be found in these links (https://imgur.com/a/3M5j3mU, https://imgur.com/a/LtNZFY7). I also wanted to say thank you to my awesome beta, DWImpala67, I really appreciated your help!

"Cas, I told you not to go out there," Castiel sighed as he sat in the small well-lit cavern that Dean called his home. The leader of this colony wasn't in a good mood, and Castiel knew why. Castiel felt guilty about what he had done, especially after last time.

"I thought it would help," Castiel offered as the elder Winchester paced back and forth in front of him. "Please, Dean, these extractions… they're so painful. I know you, this isn’t who you are."

"Funny what having your planet destroyed will do to a person," Dean snapped, whirling to get into the angel's face, his face mere centimeters away. "We're just trying to survive here, and we'll do what we have to do, got it?"

Castiel swallowed. He noted the pulsing vein on Dean's neck. He was angry. And perhaps he had the right to after all, maybe he was right. It was the angels who had single-handedly destroyed everything. And this was their punishment.

"I’m sorry, Dean," Castiel offered honestly before choking and gasping as Dean lashed out and grabbed the angel's neck, squeezing it. Castiel gasped, fingers reaching up to clutch at Dean's hand, his eyes wide and begging. "We tried to stop it."

“Sorry don’t cut it.” Dean growled. The two men eyed each other. Dean's green eyes pierced into Castiel's blue ones as the angel squirmed as his desperate lungs begged for air. 

"Dean," at Sam's voice, Dean finally relented. He glanced over as his younger brother entered the cavern holding an angel blade. "We caught the other three. We put them back in their pen."

Castiel gasped and coughed as he greedily breathed for air. He shivered, his body already so weak from this morning's extractions. He watched as Dean glanced at his brother.

"Good," Dean replied as he flipped a coin around in his hand thoughtfully. "Any idea yet on how to make their energy more productive? You know we need to figure it out before those bastards up north do, we can't let them get more powerful than us."

"Not yet, but we'll figure it out," Sam replied. "It’s just a matter of experimentation. I wish we had more angels to experiment on, these ones aren’t going to last forever."

Castiel swallowed. He knew that Dean and his colony were in competition with the colony up in the north. That colony had two angels powering their small colony while Dean had four. Four angels to power everything. From the lights to the fuel for their vehicles. 

Dean and Sam had been desperate to find more angels, but Castiel knew most of his kind were safely locked away in heaven. They’d tried every method they could think of to lure the celestial beings to Earth and then trap them. Castiel was glad that most of them didn’t fall for it; he would hate to see more of his kind suffer the way he had. He had never imagined that after the comet hit, humans would revert to such a decadent and cruel state. Especially not the Winchesters. But he had to keep telling himself, these weren’t his Winchesters.

"Take him and put him back with the others," Dean told Sam. "We'll punish him later. And have Castielle prepped for extraction, maybe we can do some tests."

Castiel gulped as Sam leaned forward and grabbed him, yanking him up harshly and pushing him towards the exit. Sam gripped the angel in a vice grip as Castiel stumbled forward.

They moved through the winding pathways that had been dug up years ago by humans trying to rebuild their subterranean society after the comet hit. There were miles and miles of tunnels, caverns, and deep chasms that descended deep into the bowels of the Earth. At this depth, heat from the center of the Earth was constant, but so were toxic gasses, and they needed to continuously pump out and refresh their air supply.

That was one more thing that the angels came in useful for. Cleaning the air, digging the tunnels, lighting the dark world around them. 

Castiel could see the terrible cycle he had found himself and his partners in. The humans needed them; they'd do anything to keep them from escaping. Yet, the abuse they endured daily to keep this society running was hard to bear. Castiel just wanted to go home.

Sam escorted him to the locked iron cell. Castiel waited patiently while the taller Winchester typed in the code on the locked door. The thick metal came open with a loud hiss, and Sam pushed Castiel towards it.

"Get in," he demanded hotly. "And tell your sister we'll be coming for her in a little bit. And for your sake, you better stop trying to run away. We catch you every single time, and we aren't going to fall for any of your lies, got it?"

Sam didn't wait for Castiel's response. He shoved Castiel in and slammed the door shut. Castiel swallowed as he descended into the small chambers where he found the others.

"Castiel," Hannah hurried over, and Castiel grabbed her up in his arms, holding her tight as her body trembled hard.

"Shh," he soothed before glancing past her at the other two. Castielle and Hana hurried over, and Hana reached over to grip Castiel's shoulder. 

Castiel and Hannah’s counterparts in this world had been here for much longer than they had. They’d endured the past ten years of struggling alongside these humans. Castiel had been shocked to find that Castielle had been inhabiting a woman who was the direct descendant of the vessel he once possessed over 100 years ago during his encounter with Lily Sunder. And Hannah’s counterpart possessed a male vessel whom Castiel recognized as the man his Hannah had been possessing when she died a few years ago. 

It had been confusing to have encountered them at first. After all, aside from the gender swap associated with the different vessels, Castiel and Castielle were the same angel. Only with different experiences. This Castielle didn’t have warm feelings for humanity like Castiel did. At least not anymore. She’d been hardened by the years she had been suffering through. She didn’t see the Winchesters as family anymore, but as abusers.

"You okay?" Hana asked with concern, his dark eyes hinted at the concern he had for Castiel. Castiel nodded, though he felt close to tears himself. He carefully maneuvered Hannah down to sit on the hard stone surface, groaning as he sat down beside her.

"Sam and Dean interrogated me for running away," Castiel explained as Hana settled down beside him while Castielle settled down on Hannah's other side. "They want to experiment on us some more. Castielle, they are going to be coming for you soon."

"What? No," Hannah sat up and grabbed the other woman, pulling her into her arms. "They extracted from her yesterday; she's still weak."

"I know," Castiel offered. He sighed. He was so worn down from all of this. He used to scream, he used to fight. Every time one of them got hauled out, he'd beg, he'd thrash about. But it never did any good. They'd all gotten used to it.

It still hurt to see the ones he loved in pain. He could always hear their screams coming from the reactor room, and it never ceased to haunt him. 

"I miss heaven," was all Castielle said, her voice soft as she huddled against Hannah, blinking as she gazed over at the two men. One lone tear trickled down her cheek. "I just wish we could go home."

"I know," Castiel responded. Someday… someday maybe they'd be able to get back home. He had prayed to the other angels every day at first, but none of them had answered. It seemed like none of them cared. They'd been abandoned and sacrificed to humanity.


	2. When Things Were Right

It wasn't long before the humans were back for Castielle. They also took Hana to begin his shift of hard labor on the surface. As Castiel and Hannah sat huddled together in the corner of the sealed cavern that had been their home for the past few years, Hannah cringed as she listened to Castielle's screams.

"Shh…" Castiel soothed as he held her in his arms. Hannah buried her face in his shoulder, trying to drown out the sounds of suffering. "Someday, we'll get out of this."

Hannah couldn't believe how Castiel could still have hope. The two of them had only been here a few months compared to the years their counterparts had been here, but it still felt like eternity, yet he still clung to the belief that they'd get back to their real lives. But even if they did, what would happen?

After all, she and Castiel weren't from this universe. They'd fallen in. At first, they didn't really understand the dynamics of this world, and Hannah still struggled with it. The world they had come from had its problems, but at least it was stable and she and Castiel had each other.

Things had really blossomed for them after Jack had brought the two of them out of the empty. They'd been together since the beginning. Together, they were the Winchester's guardians. Hannah has just begun to accept the Winchesters and Jack as family. She'd just gotten used to humanity. Castiel had shown her so much about Earth, and she'd come to see what he saw in this strange world with all its strange happenings. With humans and their strange ways of communicating, feeling, sensing, it had been an exhilarating experience.

Hannah was young compared to other angels. She was one of the last to be created by God. And, she was an angel's angel. Trained under Raphael, she had been on her way to becoming a healer, a  **_Rit Zien_ ** before the wars broke out. At first, she had denounced Castiel's rebellious nature, especially after he had destroyed her leader. Still, she always secretly admired him, and that admiration quickly grew into some more fierce respect as they began to work together.

Hannah loved Castiel. She had to learn what that meant. After all, emotions weren't something she always understood. At first, it meant spending hours in the car driving, talking, learning about one another, and the world around them. Soon, it meant stargazing in the prairie at night while the Winchesters slept, and it meant making love in the wee hours of early morning when no one else was awake. It meant taking care of Jack and learning to love him the way Castiel loves him. 

"Hannah?" Castiel's voice brought her out of her thoughts as the two lay huddled together. She lifted her head to peer into his eyes, their blue eyes locking with one another. Tenderly, Castiel pressed a kiss to her lips as he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "You still have hope, don't you?"

Hannah glanced away as another ear piercing scream from Castielle filled the air. She wasn't sure if she could answer that. It had been so long since she had been happy. This world was devoid of happiness and of hope. It was bleak and dark and cruel. "I don't like these humans," she said. "What they've done to us… Do you think the real Sam and Dean could succumb to this kind of cruelty if this happened to them?"

"No," Castiel said firmly. Hannah was startled by his firm convictions and she searched his expression, seeing no doubt or hesitation in his eyes. "This isn't the Sam and Dean I know. They've been through so much, but no matter how hard things got, they never gave up, you know why?"

Hannah shook her head; she didn't understand. All she'd seen in this world was pain and sorrow, and she had a hard time believing that the Winchesters could be capable of this level of cruelty.

"It's because they always had each other," Castiel explained as Hannah lay back down in his arms, the place where she felt safe and secure. "That's been the Winchester's greatest strength. Each other. And I have faith in them, that they'd never lose their humanity like this, as these two have."

Hannah was quiet. She didn't know what else to say as she lay there, listening to Castielle's screams. Her own body ached as she knew what Castiel's counterpart in this world was going through. Grace extraction and angel brain hacking. It was the worst pain she'd ever felt, and no matter how often either of them went through it, no matter how much she prepared herself, the pain was always too much.

"Castiel…" she breathed. "If we get out of here, could we bring them with us?" She knew he had felt the same connection for their counterparts as she did. 

"Yes," he said, although Hannah could hear the hesitation in his voice. Neither of them knew what would happen to the universe if Castielle and Hana came to their world. "No matter what, the four of us are sticking together. We're like the Winchesters now, at least the Winchesters you and I know. We're family. We won't leave them behind.", Castiel said with more conviction that he was capable of right this moment.


	3. How Things went Wrong

Not far away, Castielle screamed as pain shot through her mind straight to the core of her very being. She lay strapped to the cold metal table, the Enochian sigils on her restraints, burning her wrists and ankles. 

"Please, Sam," she pleaded as the younger Winchester wandered around with a few other humans who all wore white lab coats. Her whole body ached, and as she watched the blue light of grace being siphoned through the extraction tube attached to her neck, she felt weakened. She felt nauseous and dizzy; the feeling was all too familiar to her at this point, the result of so much of her angelic life force suddenly being drained away.

The grace flowed through the thick tube as it slithered across the space to the reactor chamber next to her. The agony she felt every time a screw was turned on the tortuous angel hacking hat; which the Winchesters had managed to steal from the demons so they could hack into the very core of the angels in their charges; was immense. The screws penetrated deep into her brain, and she felt the thick, sticky blood slowly trickling out around the screws.

Castielle felt violated, used, and abused. And, somewhere in her mind, there was that all too familiar nagging guilt telling her she deserved it. After all, she was the one, under heaven's orders, that had launched the comet at Earth more than a million years ago. It had taken so long; she'd almost forgotten about it. And when she met the Winchesters, she started working with them, learning how to rebel… when she and Hana began to develop a genuine love for one another, she'd thought she would have had more time. The comet wasn't due to arrive for another thousand years, but her superiors had gotten fed up with humanity and decided to give it an extra push- without her knowledge.

Humanity didn't even have a chance. By the time scientists and astronomers had detected the comet, it was only a week away. There was no time to prepare, no time to stop it. Castielle and Hana had both begged heaven to stop this comet, but no one would listen. They even attempted to stop it themselves- only to have their wings broken and exiled on Earth.

"This is all your fault," Sam told her as he observed the grace extraction. He stood over her, not a hint of sympathy in his eyes. There was nothing but coldness in those eyes. "You're getting what you deserve. You did this to us and now we need your energy to survive. And we need information."

"I can’t give you heaven’s secrets," Castielle explained once again. "And even if I did, you’d never be able to find your way in there. Not without dying yourself." Castielle knew that the Winchesters had been desperate to get more angels. They’d tried luring them down to earth, but that hadn’t worked well for them. Now, they were trying to get up to heaven itself. To wage war on her home. And Castielle would die before she let them do that.

"Well then we'll just have to keep doing this forever," Sam replied as one of his assistants turned the screw embedded in Castielle’s head. "Hacking into your mind, getting into your angel coding. If you won’t tell us, we’ll take the information from you."

Castielle screamed and the power released from the force of her agony caused a beaker across the room to shatter. The pain that coursed through her body was like an icy knife impaling her with its white hot anguish.

It hurt Castielle to see Sam this way. So far from the man he once was. The change in the Winchesters had happened gradually. At first, she hadn't noticed. The comet struck, and that was hard enough. No one on Earth had been safe from it. It had cooked just about everything left above ground. The interaction with the comet had heated the atmosphere up, causing out of control forest fires, causing flesh to erupt with burns from thermal radiation.

There were terrible earthquakes, tsunamis, out of control forest fires, and there had been the pelting of debris raining down on the defenseless planet below. When the destruction had finally subsided, the surface of the Earth had been left a barren, desolate wasteland. 

Fortunately, Sam, Dean, and many people had managed to survive the initial shock because they had managed to get underground, stock up on food, and wait it out. They took shelter in the deep chasms of some of the world's deepest caves, descending deep into the Earth. But when supplies ran low, when power dwindled, when monsters began to take over the surface and all forms of government and civilization became a thing of the past, they realized they needed the energy to restart their civilization.

Castielle and Hana had been with them every step of the way. They protected the small group of humans that they had fled with. They hunted on the surface; in the seas, they went to areas that were unsafe for humans. And then one of them, Hana, began to offer his grace to help power the new civilization. It wasn't much at first, a little here and a little there. But slowly, humans began to demand more and more.

And the further away from normal they got, the more Dean and Sam began to descend into the cruelty they'd found themselves in. By the time Castielle realized what was happening, she had been powerless to stop it. But she never imagined she and her lover would be the targets of this cruelty. First, they began to demand more and more grace, but as their numbers grew and their civilization began to adapt to the new life, the new order, they became more and more dependent on angel grace until their entire way of life was dependent on it.

And it had been nearly a decade. Ten years and Castielle became a prisoner. A commodity. She wasn't valued for her protection or her friendship anymore; she was valued for her power. Her life force. She was simply a thing to these humans. She was valued like gold. They coveted her like she was priceless, but it was only because she was the one thing that kept their water filtered, that lit their lights, that kept their underground hydroponics vegetables growing. 

Castielle screamed in agony as the screw was turned on the angel hacking device once more. The pain jogged her back into the present. "Please," she begged as Sam stood over her and jotted something on a clipboard as if he was just taking notes. 

"Alright, she's had enough for one session," one of Sam's assistants said, and Castielle breathed a sigh of relief. "This will give us enough power for awhile if we ration it out to everyone properly, and these idiots don't sabotage the power reactor again."

"Oh, I think they learned their lesson," Sam said, glaring down at Castielle in warning. Castielle swallowed. She thought about Hana. He'd been toiling on the surface every day for his actions, despite being weakened from all the extractions. 

"Take her back to the pen," Sam instructed. "I'll go tell Dean." With that, he stormed out, and Castielle was able to breathe a sigh of relief for the time being. The pain was over for now, but she knew it would be back eventually. And at least their mind and body probing hadn’t revealed Castielle’s biggest secret. That was something she hoped they never found out about, but she knew she wasn’t going to be able to hide forever.


	4. Thank You For Nothing

On the surface, Hana surveyed the ruined landscape of what was once El Paso, Texas. In the devastation following the impact, the city had been pummeled relentlessly by ejecta falling back to Earth. The destruction of the atmosphere had allowed dangerous levels of ultraviolet radiation from the sun to penetrate to the surface.

This city was bare. There wasn't a single vestige of life that Hana could see. Except for the group of humans who had accompanied the angel on this salvage mission. They all wore protective clothing covering their heads and bodies as the sun glared down at them.

The temperature often fluctuated on the surface. In the hours and days following the impact, the atmosphere had been heated to a level that had caused a worldwide inferno and cooked everything above ground. Then, in the months and years following, there had been so much dust and debris in the atmosphere that it had blocked the sun out, causing the surface to cool. Now, ten years into the destruction, the dust had begun to fall out of the sky, warming the Earth once more. But the impact had destroyed the ozone layer, leaving the surface vulnerable to the sun. 

In all this chaos, much of humanity had opted to adjust to living underground, only coming to the surface for hunting and scavenging, which is where angels came in. 

"Make this quick, Halo," Marlo demanded. He pointed his AK 47 at Hana menacingly while the others guarded the area. "Load everything up in the truck so we can get out of here."

Hana gazed around and wished he could break free. But he dared not try it. With the Enochian chains burning his wrists and ankles, and the fact that each of the members of the team was armed with angel blades, angel sigil guns, and other devices, he dare not try. Especially since he knew that it would be the others that would suffer for his actions.

Slowly, Hana began to throw rotten pieces of wood and rusted sheets of metal into the utility truck they had brought with them. He found pieces of cars, buildings, and even a few bones. Bodies had become scarce by now; they'd long since rotted away small animals- insects and rodents, pretty much the only things on the surface anymore- had picked clean the remains long ago.

"Hurry up!" Marlo jabbed the butt of the rifle into Hana's side, causing pain to erupt through the angel's body. He grunted and tried to pick up the pace. He struggled to stay upright, his body was weak. He hadn't fully recovered from last week's extractions. With each extraction, it was beginning to take him longer and longer to restore his grace. The ever-present feeling of nausea and fatigue gripped his psyche hard. 

Hana tried to focus on his task. The hours passed, and beads of sweat trickled into his eyes as he loaded up more debris into the truck. The humans would figure out what they could use when they got back to the cave. He found it redundant that they would even bother since his grace was powering much of their colony. Including the fuel for the truck. But they tried to use everything they found of value: old car parts, appliances, anything. Once, Hana had wandered into the ruins of a house and came across an entire kitchen full of appliances. They had been rusted from disuse, of course, but they were an essential find for the small colony. Of course, he hadn't received any words of gratitude for that find.

Hana hated humans. It was something that Castiel and Hannah didn't seem to understand. But they were new to this world. Of course, they didn't understand. Hana had been here since the beginning. He'd seen the worst of humanity. And as far as he was concerned, this deterioration had begun long before the comet strike. These were greedy, selfish, and corrupt little apes, and the only thing holding many of them back was an establishment of law and government, corrupt though it was. And as soon as that power had been destroyed, humans had quickly reverted to the decadent beings Hana had always known them to be.

Hana had a hard time believing Castiel when he talked about how great humanity was. He wondered if humans were that much different in Castiel's world, and perhaps the humans here were all just an exception. Castiel talked about how much good there was in humanity, how humans strive to better themselves, how hard they tried to do good. He acknowledged that even in his world, they were capable of great cruelty, but most of them weren't like that.

"Alright, that's enough," Marlo's voice brought an end to the day of scavenging. As the group of humans began loading up in the truck, Hana began to sense that something was amiss. His angelic senses were picking something up.

He was just about to say something when suddenly, there was a shriek coming from down the desolate street. Hana whirled to see James, the main lookout for the room, barreling towards them.

"Vamps!" he exclaimed. That sent the group into a frenzy as they all scrambled towards the truck. Sure enough, the herd of vampires came tearing around the corner and caught up to them before Marlo could get into the driver's seat. A vamp yanked him backward and sunk his teeth into the man's throat. 

"Angel!" one of the vampires exclaimed as the humans began battling for their lives. Hana jumped into the fray, though it was hard for him to fight when he was in chains. The Enochian sigils suppressed his powers. He punched one vampire, dodging another. As he did that, he saw one human after another go down, blood spraying everywhere. 

"I warned you that this was a bad time to come out," Hana exclaimed as he slammed a vampire into the side of the truck and scrambled into the bed of the truck alongside Jackson, who turned to unload a volley of bullets into the group of attacking vampires. 

"Shut up, Hana," Jackson exclaimed. "Just get us out of here!"

"It's hard when I'm chained," Hana replied. Jackson regarded him suspiciously, the two men eyeing each other for a moment. Sighing, Jackson pulled out the key and quickly unchained Hana from his shackles. 

"Try anything, and you'll be sorry," he warned. Hana nodded and leaped out of the bed of the truck and into the fray of vampires, mustering up every bit of strength to smite everything that touched him. A quick thought crossed his mind as he glanced up at Jackson, who loomed over them from the truck. Quickly, he grabbed a vampire and slammed it to the ground. The two rolled around on the ground, and Hana swiftly moved underneath the truck, taking the vampire with him. 

Once under the cover of the truck, Hana slammed the vampire hard onto the concrete below and pinned him. He leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Stop… stop!" he warned as the vampire squirmed underneath him. The creature sneered. 

"Oh, why because you asked nicely?" he scoffed. 

"No, because I know how to get into the caves," Hana said, his voice barely a gravelly whisper. "I know you need to feed. There's a colony of almost 100 in the Carlsbad Caverns, but the entire area is heavily guarded and warded."

The vampire glared at him skeptically. "Why should I work with you," he asked. "I thought these were your humans."

"Because they aren't much better than monsters," Hana replied, scoffing at the irony, as he was talking to a monster. "Call off this attack. Wait until we meet here again. This will take some planning, but I know it won't be long before your kind begins to die off. There aren't enough humans to sustain you."

The vampire didn't look convinced, but Hana put a hand on his forehead, and the vampire shrieked in pain as the sound of sizzling flesh was heard. "Your voice. Work with me, or I'll blast this entire area, and you'll all end up smoldering ruins."

"Alright, alright!" the vampire pleaded. Hana released him, and they both scurried out from under the truck. The vampire glanced back at the angel before hurrying back to the rest of his nest, muttering a few commands. They all glanced at the angel before turning back and running in the direction that they had come.

Silence descended, and Hana glanced around him. Bodies littered the ground: some humans, some vampires. But Hana whirled as Jackson jumped out of the bed of the truck and moved over to him. Hana found himself silently wishing that the vampires had killed him.

"What did you do?" he wanted to know. Hana shrugged. 

"I told them I'd wipe out the entire nest if they didn't leave," he said simply. He knew that was only a partial truth, and he knew full well that threat wouldn't be enough to scare off a nest of vampires, but it seemed to convince the human and for now it was good enough. 

"Well, let's get out of here before they come back," Jackson replied. They both hurried for the truck. As they sped away, Hana dared to cling to hope. He knew if this plan failed, he and the others would suffer the price. Dean didn't take lightly to traitors. And he had tried so many other plans over the years. He’d attempted sabotage, tried to run away, tried to contact heaven. No matter what he did, he always got caught. This time… this time, he thought maybe he'd get lucky. All he wanted was to get himself and his family out of captivity. He just wanted them to be free. It always seemed that he was the one acting. 

And right now, it felt like it was now or never. Hana had known for some time that he wasn't well. He wasn't quite sure what was wrong with him. He hadn't told the others. Maybe because Castiel and Hannah were new, the constant extractions hadn't affected them so much yet. But he worried about Castielle. They were both getting weaker. And if it ever came to the point where they no longer were able to replenish their grace, they would become human. Hana could already feel it. Fatigue, nausea, aches, and pains. The way he needed to sleep all the time. Soon, he'd begin to have hunger, thirst. He'd be mortal. He'd be just like them. He couldn't think of a worse fate than becoming human. And he wasn’t going to let it happen to Castielle .He just smirked knowing that the humans didn’t know what was about to hit them.


	5. It’s Okay To Cry

Castielle was shaking when the humans dragged her back to their cavern. As soon as she was shoved in and the door slammed shut behind her, she sank to her knees. Her head throbbed and felt heavier than bricks. She promptly got sick and threw up onto the ground in front of her. As she vomited hard, she felt Hannah holding her up and pulling her hair back. 

“Shh, it’s okay,” Hannah soothed. For a few terrible moments, Castielle felt as though she faded from reality. Her body ached and a thick fog seemed to descend across her mind. She was used to being this ill after an extraction, but she knew that there was more at work inside of her than the usual exhaustion after the torture.

“Hannah…” she sobbed, burying her face in the other woman’s embrace. “We have to get out of here. I tried to hide it from them, but I don’t think I can for much longer.”

Hannah held her tight, rocking her, cradling her. Castielle knew Hannah didn’t understand. She hadn’t told anyone. She had hoped it would all just go away. But sadly, it hadn’t. In fact it had reared its head back and this time she knew she had to do something. Because she wouldn't let anything happen to herself. Not now. She sobbed still clutching at Hannah and the other angel waited patiently for her to compose herself. 

Hannah gently wiped Castielle’s tears away with her thumbs as she sat up and took a deep breath. She glanced around to notice that Hana hadn’t returned from the scavage mission and that Castiel was gone.

“W-where is Castiel?” she stammered, her voice raw in her throat. Concern for the two men briefly drew her attention away from her current fears. 

“Dean took him,” Hannah replied. “Said he needed to interrogate him. More attempts to get into our coding, I think.”

Castielle swallowed. She put a hand to her abdomen, feeling relieved that this last torture session hadn’t revealed her secret. The Winchesters seemed unaware. So did the other lab assistants. 

“Hannah… I’m pregnant,” she murmured, not keeping the fear out of her voice. She met Hannah’s brilliant sapphire eyes and saw the fear cross them as the news sank in.

“What? But… how?” Hannah asked in a clearly panicked voice. 

Castielle swallowed. She thought back to when she had last made love. She had made love with Hana, and with Hannah, as a means to cope with the duress, she was under. She craved the physical connection. She had been under such stress that the comfort she got from the rare moments of bliss were often what kept her going.

“I don’t know,” Castielle offered. “I think it’s because I’ve lost so much grace that I lost control of my human vessel. Her body, her functions, I wasn’t able to stop it.”

Hannah sighed. Castielle didn’t have to guess her reaction. They were both afraid. There were so many unknowns. So much uncertainty. 

“Hannah, I know my child is an angel,” Castielle continued. “I could feel it’s power almost as soon as it was conceived.” Even now, she could feel the power growing inside of her, and she knew that as the unborn child grew, her power would wane. It was feeding off of what little grace she had, making her weaker and weaker.

“We have to get you to our world,” Hannah concluded. “If you have a chance to recover, there’s a chance you can regain your grace… I… I won’t let you…” Hannah didn’t have to finish that sentence. Castielle knew. In her current condition, she’d never be able to survive this pregnancy. 

“The Winchesters cannot find out,” Hannah continued, determination in her voice. “You and this child are in danger.”

“They don’t suspect anything yet,” Castielle assured her. “They could have found out with their brain hacking device but I managed to keep my knowledge away from them. For now.”

Hannah reached over and brushed a hand against Castielle’s cheek, locking eyes with her. “We’re going to get out of this,” she assured her. “I’m not going to let these savages hurt you anymore. We’re going to get out, get to my world and then the four of us will raise this child together. Do you understand?”

Castielle wasn’t so sure. She had her doubts she would survive. She nodded sadly but leaned in to kiss Hannah on the lips. She was scared and afraid and she knew Hannah was too. They needed each other’s embrace, their touch. It was an assurance of being there - alive and breathing - which they both needed.

This wasn’t the most ideal place to make love, but this had been their home for so long and the raw emotion between them was evident. Castielle could put aside her fears for this brief moment. She poured out her emotions into every touch, every sensation. 

The moment of passion engulfed both women, the two of them desperate to satiate every desire. Castielle touched and caressed Hannah’s skin, every inch of it, before letting the other woman ease onto her, the weight sending waves of pleasure throughout her body.

Soon the ecstasy that flowed through her like shock waves had Castielle squirming and moaning, before collapsing against Hannah, her energy spent. The two women lay in one another’s embrace, soaking up the moment and savoring one another’s touch.

Castielle didn’t even recall how they’d managed to find themselves in the darkness of the back wall of their cavern, unclothed, and basking in the aftermath of such passionate lovemaking. But as Hannah placed a palm on Castielle’s bare abdomen, she was slowly brought back to reality.

“Do you feel it?” Castielle asked. She couldn’t see Hannah through the darkness, but she could feel and hear her. And she could feel the power of the being, inside of her.

“Yes,” Hannah replied softly. “This child is important. In our world, angels are going extinct. But no other angel has ever conceived in this method… I don’t know what the consequences are going to be, Castielle. For us, for heaven…”

Castielle got quiet. She knew the risks, but as she lay there in Hannah’s arms, savoring the warmth of the other angel, she knew she wanted this child. “Hannah,” she said softly. “If I don’t make it… you have to promise me you’ll take care of this child.”

“I promise,” Hannah replied without hesitation. “But don’t think that way. You are going to survive.”

Castielle felt determined. She was determined that this child would live, even if she didn’t. After years of being trapped here, she had gotten used to their confinement and the idea of escape had become a distant dream. But now, things were different. She didn’t want this child to grow up here. She didn’t want it to be subjected to a life of misery and despair. They would get out of here. Somehow, they had to.


	6. Dark Cloud

“Pregnant?” Castiel repeated as he and Hannah found themselves alone in Dean’s office, waiting for the older Winchester to return.

Hannah nodded as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Last night was still fresh in her memory. The touches she’d exchanged with Castielle, and the promise she had made. She spoke in a whisper, not wanting any passing humans to overhear her.

“She won’t be able to hide it much longer,” Hannah echoed Castielle’s words to her. “She’s been hiding it for several weeks already.”

An uncomfortable silence passed between them as Hannah watched Castiel’s face closely. Hannah was still trying to process the information herself. Their already miserable situation had suddenly gotten so much worse.

“We have to protect her,” Hannah implored. “No matter what. If the Winchesters find out, they’ll want to experiment. And this child… they’ll only see it as a tool. A thing to be harvested.”

Castiel was about to respond when the door swung open behind him, and Dean stepped in. He quickly fell silent as the older Winchester moved to face the two of them. Castiel swallowed as he studied the look on the other man’s face. He thought he had gotten used to reading Dean’s expressions by now, but of course, he had to remind himself that this wasn’t the Dean he knew.

“You seemed to be having an intimate conversation,” Dean began casually as he paced in front of the two angels. “Care to clue me in?”

“No,” Hannah responded bluntly. In response, Dean stepped forward, slapping her hard across the cheek, sending her whirling out of her chair and to the ground. Castiel moved quickly but was cut off by the feeling of metal under his chin. Sam Winchester held an angel blade to his throat, Castiel hadn’t even heard the younger Winchester come in.

Hannah grunted as she slowly made her way back to her chair. Castiel watched as she held her cheek, which bore a large bruise. Hannah only glared back at Dean defiantly but said nothing.

“I’m not in the mood for attitude today,” Dean began as he leaned against the desk. Castiel felt the angel blade fall away as Sam moved to stand next to his brother. “I think it’s time we have a little discussion. You know what we want.”

“We won’t tell you how to get into heaven,” Castiel replied calmly, though he felt tense. He realized that there was something different about this meeting, and he suspected that the Winchesters were planning something new. Whatever it was, he could only imagine it would be painful.

“I know, Cas,” Dean replied, rolling his eyes as he exchanged glances with Sam. Castiel flinched, he always noticed that the Winchesters still called him Cas, once that shortened version of his name had denoted friendship, but now it was almost derogatory. “We’ve tried to dig into your coding and find the answers ourselves, but you’ve all proved difficult. You would all save yourselves a lot of trouble if you had just told us. But now, we’re going to have to try for plan B.”

“What’s plan B?” Castiel dared to ask. Sam scoffed in response, and Dean turned his attention to Hannah. Castiel tensed in his seat. He didn’t like the way they were looking at her.

“We got word that the northern colony successfully managed to breed an angel,” Sam began. “We don’t know if that’s true, but we’re going to try it ourselves.”

“If none of you will give us access to the rest of those heavenly dick bags, it looks like we’ll just have to make more ourselves,” Dean replied smugly, relishing in the discomfort that was caused to the angels because of this information.

“No,” Hannah began. “You can’t. It won’t work.” Castiel felt a cold wave of terror descend upon him. He thought of Castielle, her baby, and this seemed to confirm that the humans wouldn’t hold back their cruelty even for this child. They had truly lost their humanity.

“Now we know you four have been pretty cozy with one another,” Dean continued as he smirked mockingly. “I know you’re all under so much stress. It’s only natural you’d want to console one another. We get that. But it seems the usual way hasn’t gotten us any results, so we are going with a better method.”

Castiel didn’t really understand what Dean could mean, but he reached over and grabbed Hannah’s hand, squeezing it, trying to calm his own fears as he felt her begin to tremble beside him. “Please don’t do this, Dean,” Castiel begged. But as he did so, a white-coated assistant entered the room, holding what looked like a syringe. Castiel scooted closer to Hannah, putting a hand across her as if to shield her from whatever they were planning.

As the assistant handed Sam the syringe, Castiel felt some hands grab him from behind and haul him out of his chair. Two humans quickly restrained him, and immediately, he began to struggle.

“No,” he gasped. “Let her go! Please, Dean, don’t hurt her!” Hannah quickly tried to jump out of her chair, only for Dean to shove her back as Sam approached with the syringe. 

Castiel tried to fight and struggle, desperate to get to Hannah. Usually, with his angelic strength, these humans would be no match for neither him or Hannah, but the countless extractions had kept them weak and suppressed their powers. No matter how much he struggled, it was no use. He yelled out as Sam injected Hannah with the syringe. She cried out, jolting forward in her chair as the strange unknown liquid was forced into her body from the needle.

After the syringe was empty, Sam moved back, and both angels were released. Castiel quickly hurried to Hannah, kneeling in front of her, gazing up at her.

At first, Hannah seemed unaffected. She coughed, rubbing the injection site on her neck. But then, she quickly doubled over and threw up on the floor, groaning hard. Castiel hurried to hold her, to keep her from tumbling out of her chair as her body trembled hard. He looked at Dean.

“What did you do to her?” he demanded angrily as Hannah whimpered in pain, trying to compose herself.

“A little compound we came up with,” Sam responded with a scoff. “In theory, it suppresses your hold over your vessel, causing their human bodily functions to surface. At the same time, it causes a woman’s ovaries to jump into hyperdrive. That’s stage one. Stage two is artificial insemination.”

“We’ll need both of you for that,” Dean said with a mocking wink. “So congrats, Cas, you two are going to be parents.”

“Take them back to their cell,” Sam told the other humans in the room. “we’ll be back once the drug has its effect.”

Castiel and Hannah were manhandled and hauled out of the room. Castiel kept his eyes on Hannah as they were hurried along. She swayed on her feet; the humans had to drag her along. 

Castiel couldn’t deny the irony of all of this. Sam and Dean had failed to gain access to other angels, so they were going to breed the angels they had with them as if they were the cattle. Of course, they had no idea that Castielle was already pregnant and that this procedure was unnecessary. But now both Castielle and Hannah were in danger. Castiel didn’t know if the humans would be successful in artificially impregnating Hannah. Still, whether they succeeded or not, he could already tell that the experiments would be dangerous for her. They had to get out of here. Now.


	7. Let’s Play A Game

“You did what?” Castiel exclaimed as he frowned at Hana when he told him about the vampires. “Everyone in the colony could be killed.”

“It’s what they deserve,” Hana replied bitterly as the four of them huddled together. Hannah groaned as more waves of nausea rolled through her, and she and Castielle snuggled together while Castiel and Hana tried to figure out what they should do. “They’ve turned into cruel, uncaring creatures. They’ve lost their humanity; they don’t deserve to stay human. Being vampires is more than fitting for them.”

Hana knew Castiel was coming around after what happened. They’d been suffering for far too long. He knew Castiel still harbored sympathy for humans and for the Winchesters in particular. How he could still cling to those feelings was something beyond Hana’s understanding. 

“It’s just that there are children in this colony, and they’re innocent” Castiel pointed out. “They aren’t responsible for the Winchester’s actions. “ Castiel reiterated his faith in humanity. 

Hana sighed and glanced down at Hannah and Castielle, who huddled together. Both women were ill. Hannah was suffering the effects of the drugs the Winchesters had flooded her body with, and Castielle was suffering the harmful effects of a dangerous pregnancy. Hana couldn’t allow them to die like this. He looked at Castiel.

“Do you want to raise our child in this hell?” he asked. Castiel swallowed and looked away. Hana moved over and brushed a hand on the other man’s cheek, moving up close to him as Castiel turned to face him again. “Castiel. I know you feel responsible for this. But we’ve more than paid for whatever crimes heaven committed. And how can we condemn this child to our fate?”

Castiel sighed. “I know…” he relented. Hana let out a breath in relief. He took a moment to lean in for a passionate kiss, closing his eyes for a moment to bask in the sensation for just a brief moment. 

“I love you, Castiel,” Hana said, cupping Castiel’s face in his hands. “Your unwavering faith in others, your compassion, all of it. I know that, seeing anyone, even our enemies, suffer hurts you. But it’s not just about us anymore.”

At that, Hannah groaned and got to her feet, moving to Castiel. Hana smiled as Castiel draped one arm around him and the other around Hannah. Castielle moved to join them. An observer would think that they were engaged in some sort of group huddle, but the love shared between the four of them was unmistakable. Hana felt loved. Sandwiched between Castiel and Castielle, their arms around him, and his around theirs, with Hannah, his sister, sandwiched on their other side, this was the only positive thing he had found in these last few months. Huddled together for days, sometimes weeks, in their little cavern, the four angels had found a kind of love they’d never encountered before.

Hana loved all three angels, though not all in the same way. With Castielle, she was his partner. They had a history long before Castiel and Hannah joined them. Through the years, they had grown to love each other passionately. Few angels felt things this intensely, but what Hana felt for Castielle went beyond anything he’d ever felt before. And their love had endured the long years of their enslavement. The hours and days they spent in each other’s arms after the painful experiments were the only way Hana could have ever gotten through it all.

Hana’s love for Castiel was new and fresh. He was still exploring it. He never thought anyone other than Castielle could make his heart skip a beat, but Castiel’s compassion for others and his devotion was what Hana loved the most about him. No matter what circumstances, Castiel always clung to hope. Hana had never encountered that kind of faith before. 

And Hana loved Hannah. She was his sister, his twin, his counterpart, his closest friend. And they were connected through their love for the two Castiels. It had been a little awkward at first. After all, Hannah was Hana’s counterpart in just about every way except for the different vessels. Yet… she wasn’t. The angel she was inside was identical to him, but she had proved to be more than just a copy. 

“Alright,” Castiel said after a few moments as he draped one arm around Hana’s shoulders and the other around Hannah’s, peering into both of their faces. “When are the vampires supposed to attack?”

“Soon,” Hana replied. He had been out on the surface twice since the incident, and both times, he had managed to get away from the humans briefly. He’d met with the leader of the local nest of vampires.

Since the humans had mostly descended underground and many were locked behind tons of security, the monsters that now dominated the surface had broken up into many different factions. Vampires, Werewolves, Djinn, and many others. They all had claimed their own territories, and they all had fought bitterly for the best lands, especially areas around the caves and caverns that they knew humans dwelled in. And the lack of humans to feed on; had caused many monsters to go insane and to revert to more animalistic ways, but a few stronger factions still help some semblance of sentience.

This particular part of the surface was dominated by a particularly powerful vampire nest. It was hard to get an exact figure of their numbers, as it changed every day, but Hana suspected their numbers were vast, and they could call for reinforcements. A prize as enormous as this cavern, one of the largest human colonies in North America, certainly required plenty of support.

Hana had given the vampires information about the human’s movements, about the Winchesters, and how they’d be able to get into the caverns. Now, all they had to do was wait.

“The vampires don’t plan to kill anyone,” Hana explained as he relayed the intentions of the vampire nest. And he couldn’t help but feel the sense of irony as he thought of it. “Not all of them anyway. The humans here are far more valuable to them as a source of breeding stock and blood. Most of them will be captured and kept in captivity.”

“Then they’ll be the ones living in cages,” Castielle muttered bitterly as she put a hand to her stomach as she glanced at Hannah. “They’ll be experimented on, maybe even forced to breed like cattle, seems like poetic justice.”

Hana did feel a fleeting sense of sympathy, knowing how humans would suffer. Castiel was right; there were plenty of innocent people in the colony that had never played a part in the Winchester’s torture. But they were undoubtedly aware of what was going on. They were all aware of the fact that it was angel power that kept them warm at night, kept the power thriving in this colony, kept their plant and rodent farms powered. And as far as Hana was concerned, if they were content to benefit off of his and his lover’s suffering, then they were just as guilty as the Winchesters.

As he stood there, anticipating the moment of the attack, thinking about freedom, Castiel suddenly gasped and gripped his head in pain. Hana’s attention snapped to him as the angel winced in pain.

“What is it, Castiel?” Hannah asked, with a genuine concern in her voice as she gripped his shoulder. Castiel didn’t answer at first. 

“Jack?” he murmured softly as he squinted as if trying to understand some unseen voice. He turned to Hannah. “It’s angel radio. I’m getting a message.”

“How is that possible?” Hannah wondered, glancing at Hana and Castielle. Angel radio had been silent for years, neither Hana or Castielle had been in contact with heaven since the angels had sealed themselves in. He wasn’t even sure it was possible anymore.

After all, it wasn’t as if they had never tried to contact the other angels. They’d tried desperately to plead for help, but their pleas had gone unanswered for so long that Hana had just assumed they had been cut off.

“It’s not heaven,” Castiel explained after a moment. “It’s Jack. He’s contacting me telepathically. He and Sam and Dean have found a way in! They’re looking for us. Jack said to hold on, they’ll find us soon.”

Hana swallowed. It had been so long since he had felt any kind of hope, but slowly, he allowed it to seep in. Maybe their moment of liberation was at hand. Whether it was at the hands of vampires or the Nephilim, Hana dared to hope.

That is until the door to their chambers burst open, and Sam Winchester stood there, armed with a few guards. Hana whirled to face him. He pointed at Hannah.

“You, come with me,” he demanded. Hannah swallowed, and Castiel held her protectively to him. 

“Please,” Castiel pleaded. “Don’t do this. She may not survive it.” Sam only responded by glancing at the guards who came forward and yanked Hannah out of the other angel’s grasp.

“No!” Castielle exclaimed, surging forward. She was met by a swift blow to the head with the butt of one of the guard’s rifles. Hana barely had time to jolt forward to grab her before she fell. 

The angels struggled, but it was no use. Hannah was hauled out of the cavern anyway.


	8. Pulling The Wrong Strings

Hannah groaned under the growing agony as she lay strapped to the Winchester’s experimental table. She’d been here plenty of times before, for grace extractions or to be subjected to the terrible anguish of the Winchester’s angel brain hacking device. But this was different. At first, she had been subjected to the usual extractions. She spent the first few hours with her arms and legs cuffed with chains which bore painful Enochian sigils on them, which held her as the hacking and extracting had gone on. But when they were finished, when she thought it was over, things took a different turn. These experiments would be different.

But before the pain of the memories of extractions had even left her, Sam Winchester reappeared with another syringe. Hannah cringed. The effects of the first injection had begun to set in already. Hannah could feel her human vessel begin to resurface. She had maintained a firm control over Caroline Johnson, her vessel. Her mind, her body, even her bodily functions right down to the muscles. She had prevented Caroline from aging, needing food, water, from being tired. But all those needs and urges had begun to reassert themselves over the hours since the injection. Just like Castielle and Hana, who had had their grace so depleted that their human impulses had made it possible for Castielle to conceive a child, Hannah, too, was losing control of her vessel.

“Please don’t,” Hannah begged as Sam loomed over her, taking notes while his assistants wheeled in a tray full of surgical equipment. But Sam skillfully and carefully injected the syringe into Hannah’s arm. 

“We collected the appropriate cells from Castiel,” Sam explained to her, ignoring her pleas. “And we need to extract a few eggs. You’re lucky we were good enough to numb you, we prefer to save the anesthesia for human needs.”

As Hannah watched with growing tension and anxiety, beads of sweat began to form along her hairline. She felt her heart pounding and tried to keep her labored breathing under control. She didn’t want the humans to know how truly terrified she was. 

Her clothes, gray jumpsuits that the humans had supplied them with during their captivity, which had been spartan anyway, had been replaced by a thin surgical gown which Sam pulled up to give him access to her torso. She tried to shrink away, gasping at the touch as Sam’s latex covered fingers probed her skin.

“Right here,” he told the assistants, pressing down on her skin. “Make the incision here.” Hannah whimpered in spite of herself as one of the assistants, sported what looked like a long needle at least six inches long, which was attached to some sort of collection vial.

Hannah squirmed, trying to shrink away, as waves of warm numb sensations began to descend over her. She felt fuzzy and incoherent. The numbing agent she was injected with was taking hold. She counted it as both a blessing and a curse because she was grateful to be spared the pain of this extraction, but as her mind grasped at reality, she struggled to stay alert.

She didn’t even register when the needle pierced her skin, not at first. The sudden, dizzy cloud that had descended into her mind had her fading in and out. She was vaguely aware of the pressure in her torso. But she completely missed the sudden shout from somewhere outside her field of vision.

“What the hell!” Sam shouted as he glanced to his side. There was a crash of trays somewhere in the room. Sam dropped his clipboard and rushed away. Hannah struggled to try to pinpoint whatever could be happening around her. 

“Help me…” she murmured though she wasn’t sure who she was speaking to. Her vision blurred, and suddenly there were arms on her, pulling her up to a sitting position. She glanced at the figure who appeared beside her.

“J-Jack?” she murmured lethargically.

  
  


Jack had never been so relieved to find Hannah lying on the experimentation table. But seeing Sam stand over her, injecting her with that menacing needle as if she was some slab of meat sickened him. 

It took a moment to overpower the humans. Jack didn’t like hurting anyone, but he knew it was necessary if he wanted to help the angels. He’d come in right as the vampires launched their attack. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of vampires storming the fortifications. The humans had hurried to defend their colony, and Jack took advantage of the chaos and slipped into the caverns unnoticed. 

He knew time was short. He had found his way into the extraction room first, and after quickly dispatching all the assistants and lab workers who tried to stop him, he stood face to face with Sam Winchester. Or at least, another Sam Winchester.

“Sam, please,” he begged as the younger Winchester advanced on him. Sam hesitated at the sound of his name.

“Who are you?” he demanded as he grabbed a large serrated knife off of the tray. “How did you get past the guards?”

“I can’t let you keep hurting her,” Jack replied, ignoring Sam’s question. Sam glared as he glanced back at Hannah, who lay motionless on the table, whimpering softly. For a moment, he seemed to be considering his next course of action. But, as Jack could hear footsteps down the hall, he lunged at the Nephilim.

With a quick blast of energy, Jack threw Sam across the room. The energy was so powerful, it blasted a giant hole right through Sam’s torso, and the man collapsed in a heap, a puddle of blood spreading out underneath him.

Jack let out a gasp, emotion threatening to overwhelm him. He’d killed someone he thought of as his father. He had little time to remember though, that this Sam Winchester that he had just killed had no resemblance to the Sam Winchester he knew. This was not his Sam, this was a monster. The one he looked up to as his father figure was currently holding the portal open for them so that they could rescue the other angels. He didn’t get much chance to reflect on his thoughts as Hannah groaned and called out for help, he had to snap to attention quickly. He rushed to her side and slowly pulled her up.

“I… can’t feel…” she murmured. As Jack pulled the syringe out of her and helped her up, he saw the blood caked all over her thin surgical gown and shuttered. He didn’t understand what sort of experiments Sam had been doing, nor did he want to know. Carefully, he lifted Hannah into his arms. 

“Jack…” she murmured against him as he carried her towards the door. “Castiel…”

“I’m going to get him,” Jack instructed. Just as he said that a group of security guards burst in and Jack quickly blasted through all of them, few of them had any time to pull out their guns. 

Jack rushed through the caverns with Hannah in his arms. Hannah murmured somewhat incoherently where she thought the others were, and soon they came to the room. Jack put Hannah down, laying her carefully against the wall as he concentrated on the metal door. Holding out a hand, he blasted through the door like it was nothing. 

He barely had a chance to see through the dust of the wall when he found himself in Castiel’s arms. The angel squeezed the Nephilim tight, happy to be reunited with him.

“We have to hurry,” Jack explained. “Hannah needs help, and Sam and Dean are holding the portal open for us for as long as they can.”

“We have a few others,” Castiel replied as he moved to pick Hannah up. As he said that, Castielle and Hana hurried out, both glancing wearily at the Nephilim. “They are mine and Hannah’s counterparts from this universe. They are coming with us.”

Jack nodded and helped them out. He was curious about them. He could immediately tell who they were, as he could see their wings and their angelic grace. But they didn’t have time for introductions and small talk. So, he urged Castiel to hurry up.

It was a long fight through the caverns. They encountered humans at every turn. Jack blasted each one of them, and as they hurried up towards the surface, they met the one human Jack was worried about running into- Dean.

“My brother…” Dean growled as he held up a gun. “What did you do…”

“I didn’t want to,” Jack protested, sincerely. “He didn’t leave me any other choice. Please move away, Dean, we’re leaving.”

“Not with those angels you aren’t” with that, Dean shot Jack. But as Jack glanced down at the bullet hole in his chest that quickly closed up, he shrugged. Dean angrily opened fire, and as Jack got sprayed with more bullets. He tried to stay in front of the angels to keep them from getting hurt. The extractions had made them vulnerable to human weapons, but the Nephilim was still more powerful than any of them. 

“We’re leaving, Dean,” Castiel replied as the gun ran out of bullets. He held Hannah in his arms while Hana and Castielle stood beside him. “Your dominance over us has ended.”

Dean lunged at them angrily, but Jack was there. He grabbed the older Winchester and flung him over the ledge into the lower levels of the cavern, where he landed hard with a thud. Jack swallowed, knowing that Dean probably didn’t survive that fall. It felt wrong to have killed the Winchesters, even if they were a mere counterpart of the real Winchesters he knew from his world. They resembled his Family. So, the twisted emotions that he was feeling were a bit justified. He was going to have to talk to both Sam and Dean back at home. 

“Come on, Jack,” Castiel urged, knowing he was getting lost in his thoughts. He reminded Jack to hurry up as he was now craving the safety of their own world and he needed to be back in his world so that he could take care of his counterparts and let them know that not all humans are as bad as they had encountered. He worried more about Castielle’s state and he wanted to hurry up and get her checked out. So he once again urged Jack to hurry up and Jack shoved past any other attacking humans until they were finally outside.

The hordes of attacking vampires were everywhere as they streamed past the angels and into the cavern, eager to devour any human they encountered. Jack wanted to take out the vampires too, but there wasn’t any time. He had to get the angels to safety.

It was a long trek back to the portal site, but when they finally arrived, Jack was relieved to find it still open. He led the angels through and followed them in. They all arrived in the bunker where Sam and Dean waited for them. Sam and Dean immediately helped Castiel and the other angels settle down in the chair and that was when Jack heard Castiel breathe the biggest sigh of relief.

“We’re home…” the angel murmured. “We’re free…”, knowing that the horrible days had passed and he was finally back into the world which was safe and where he could take care of his angels better and help them heal. A world which was far better than the other. A world which was saved from apocalypse.


	9. How I got through it all

In the wee hours of the early morning, Castiel wandered through the bunker. Ending up in the kitchen, he moved to the coffee maker, mindlessly changing the filter and turning it on. He didn’t need the coffee or the eggs and bacon he planned to make, but somehow, it felt right to make them anyway. 

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the footsteps behind him and he jumped as he nearly dropped the coffee pot when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Whirling hard, he caught his breath when he found Hana standing there. The other angel took a quick step back.

“Sorry,” Castiel offered as he finished with the coffee. “I guess I’m still a little jumpy.” He knew Hana understood. He had been having a hard time adjusting to this new reality. They all had.

“Castielle and Hannah are still in bed,” Hana offered, giving Castiel only a small smile as he moved to sit down at the table. They both fell in comfortable silence as Castiel poured them both some coffee and came to sit down next to him.

“Castielle needs all the rest she can get,” he reminded the other angel. They both sat there in silence for a moment, both lost in thoughts. The stoic look that passed Hana’s dark eyes mirrored Castiel’s own thoughts. He put a hand on Hana’s shoulder and when the other man glanced up to look at him, he rubbed his back comfortingly. Castiel knew his fellow angel wanted to get something out of his chest. 

“I don’t know what to make of this place,” Hana admitted with a sigh. Castiel listened patiently. “It’s so calm. So peaceful. It’s been months and I should be able to adapt, but I can’t stop thinking about that world. How it still exists. Just under our feet, separated by a thin curtain. It was  _ my  _ world. I was created to belong to that world.” Hana let out a frustrated growl as he finished. 

Castiel sighed as he listened to Hana lament about the world they had left behind. “You feel displaced,” he tried to relate to Hana. “I know. For all we know there could be hundreds of different dimensional worlds out there. Each of them could have one of me and one of you. But… doesn’t that mean something about us?”

Hana gave him a puzzled glance as he sipped his coffee. “What do you mean?” 

“That no matter how many versions of you I meet, I could still manage to fall in love with you.” Castiel only replied by cupping his face in both of his hands and leaning in to kiss him softly, passionately on the lips.

“Hey, hey break it up you two,” came a voice from behind. Castiel and Hana both glanced up to see Sam and Dean enter the room. They poured themselves some coffee and settled down at the table across from the two angels. Instantly, Castiel felt Hana tense up beside him. He quickly took Hana’s hand in his and put it in his own lap, entwining their fingers.

“Dean,” Castiel greeted. “Sam. Good morning.” The brothers glanced at one another before focusing in on the angels.

“Cas, I think we need to talk,” Dean began after a long, uncomfortable pause. Castiel sighed and glanced at Hana. They’d been given the last few months to recover and he was grateful that Sam and Dean had left them alone for the most part, but he knew they had questions. 

“Cas, we’re concerned about the implications,” Sam began. “Not just of your counterpart and her baby but also about you bringing the two of them into this world. You may have unraveled something that we may not be able to put back together later. You know these sorts of things always have a consequence.”

“What was I supposed to do, just leave them behind?” Castiel shot back. He knew he sounded a little defensive, but he didn’t regret what they did. And there was no way he would ever allow Hana or Castielle to be forced to go back to that world.

“They belonged there,” Dean explained with a shrug. Hana was quiet as he sat stoic beside Castiel, but he felt the other angel clench his hand. 

Castiel shook his head. “I made the choice to bring them,” he conceded. “Hannah and I did. Because leaving them behind wasn’t an option. Do you have any idea what your counterparts in that world did to us? The torment we all endured?”

“Yeah you gave us the spiel,” Dean replied as he took a swig of coffee. “Look, I get it, Cas. I’m just concerned because these sort of things tend to come back and bite us in the ass. They always do.”

“Yes, I know,” Castiel said with a sigh before glancing at Hana. 

“As for the kid,” when Dean brought the kid up, Hana immediately reacted. 

“My child,” he corrected, his voice cautious but dangerous. Castiel found himself nodding. 

“You know if heaven finds out the angels aren’t going to be down for this,” Dean reminded them. 

Castiel shrugged. “After all these years I’m long past caring what heaven thinks of my actions,” he said. “The four of us. Hannah, our counterparts, and myself, will raise this child. Like the two of you and I have raised Jack. And whatever consequences occur, we will face them too.”

“Fine,” Dean replied, putting his palms firmly on the table. “Fine. Do what you want, Cas. Just… be careful.”

With that the Winchesters got up and left the kitchen. Hana let out a sigh of relief just as Castiel turned to him. He shrugged. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know they are your friends but I’m having a hard time even looking at them right now. I… I can’t get past…” he lowered his gaze, staring at their hands interlaced with one another. 

“I know,” Castiel understood what Hana was trying to say. These Winchesters looked exactly like the Winchesters from his world. The ones that tormented them for so long. Hana had been on edge the moment they’d come through the portal. He couldn’t relax when the Winchesters were around. Castiel worried if he ever would.

“They’re just concerned about the universe,” Castiel said. “But I am concerned about Castielle. She’s still weak. This is the safest place for her until the baby is born. If she has any chance of surviving this, she’ll need us to be there for her.”

“I don’t know if I can survive without her,” Hana lamented with a sorrowful sigh as he glanced away. “Or you… If she doesn’t make it…”

Castiel swallowed. He didn’t want his sister to die. And he knew how devastated Hana and Hannah would be at her loss. He’d feel the same way if he lost either one of them. They were his family. 

“She  _ will _ survive. She will, Hana. You have to believe that. And this child will also survive and they will have two mothers and two fathers that love them. And Jack will be a good brother to them.”

Hana paused for a moment, lost in his thoughts. Finally, he nodded, smiling. “I guess we should start talking about nursery stuff,” he suggested with a shrug. Castiel smirked and nodded.

Castiel never thought of himself as much of a father. But he had risen to the occasion with Jack, whom he loved as his own. He felt proud of the wonderful person Jack had become and how kind he was. Looking back at Jack, he felt a bit confident about his skills as a father and he couldn’t wait to experience the happiness of being a father again. Castiel found himself looking forward to this newest addition to their family.


	10. Winning The Game Of Life

The months went by in a blur and as hard as Hannah tried, she still couldn’t erase the memories of the world she had escaped from. Every time she closed her eyes, she was back there again. Strapped to an examination table with drills piercing into her head. With humans circling around her, poking and prodding her body like she was simply a piece of meat to them, it was like walking on fire all over again. Hannah still remembered Sam Winchester’s cold eyes gazing down at her as she screamed and begged, pain shooting through her from all over her body, as she squirmed and fought against the restraints with what little strength she had in her…

“Hannah!” 

Hannah gasped as she sat up in bed, her heart thumping rapidly in her chest as she heard someone scream for her. She realized she had dozed off. She was in her bed again. Castiel was beside her. It was quiet, calm, tranquil. And Castiel’s hands were warm and gentle as he gathered her into his arms.

Slowly, Hannah lowered back down, laying her head on Castiel’s bare shoulder. Her breath hitched in her throat as he soothed her hair with his fingers, his other hand rubbing her bare back.

“I was… there,” Hannah stammered softly, trying to compose herself. “In that place… where they hurt me…”

“I know,” Castiel replied patiently. He knew exactly what she had seen in her dreams. “It’s okay… you’re here now. You’re safe.”

There was a long pause as Hannah slowly relaxed. She remembered where she was the night before. She remembered watching Netflix with Castiel, discussing baby names and child care arrangements. And then, they had made love, and for the first time in so long, it was real, true. It was slow and passionate. It wasn’t about a need to deal with the constant stress and fear they had been under. It was genuine and true. It was the first time Hannah had allowed herself to truly relax and let go. And Castiel had touched her…just the way he used to. The way she longed to be touched. 

Last night was a victory. Hannah felt that as she lay there in bed with Castiel. The memories would never fade and she wondered if they would ever stop haunting her dreams. But last night was the first night since their captivity that she felt like she wasn’t just surviving. She was finally beginning to live again. 

As they lay there, the door suddenly burst open and Hana rushed in. “Castielle is in labor,” he said anxiously. 

Hannah jumped into action. As she leaped out of bed and hurried to get her clothes on, she met Castiel’s eyes briefly. “You ready for this?” he asked. Hannah nodded hesitantly. She glanced at Hana and he nodded, the same nervousness in his eyes. They had all been preparing for this moment. They’d all made sure Cassie was well provided for. Her grace had begun to recover, but they were all worried it wasn’t going to be enough. She’d spent the last few months of her pregnancy on bed rest. 

Hannah was scared. She was scared of losing Cassie. It terrified her. And she was afraid of becoming a parent. All four of them were about to be parents. Sure, biologically, Hana and Castielle had produced this child, but Hannah felt just as responsible, and she knew Castiel did too. This child belonged to all four of them. 

When Hannah got to Castielle’s room, the other angel was in pain, breathing heavily, her swollen belly clearly visible. Hannah was at her side in seconds, taking her hand and soothing her hair while Hana stationed himself on the other side, holding Castielle’s other hand.

Hannah was nervous about the Winchesters assisting in the birth. And Hana was even more hesitant. He’d been unable to trust the brothers since returning and even now as he watched them closely as they entered the room with Castiel, wheeling in whatever medical supplies they managed to acquire. Jack was there too, helping Castiel.

But there was no way they could risk going to a hospital. Castielle wasn’t human and they couldn’t risk the human doctors finding out what she really was. So they had no choice but to try to handle this in the bunker. 

One loud scream of pain from Castielle had Hannah focusing solely on her. “It’s okay,” she soothed in a calm voice . “You can do this, Castielle… I know you can.” Hannah herself was surprised by her calm voice as she tried to keep the worry out of her expression. She needed to be strong for Castielle, even if she didn’t feel very strong at the moment. She was terrified. She couldn’t bear to see what was happening as she saw Castiel and the Winchesters position themselves at the foot of the bed, ready to help deliver the baby, so she focused only on Castielle.

“Castielle, look at me,” she said softly. The two women locked eyes and Hannah almost shrinked back at the pain she saw in her eyes. She swallowed and forced herself to continue. “I know you can do this. We’re all here for you. Please don’t leave me Castielle… you have to hold on, okay?”

Castielle nodded and cried out as pains wracked her body. The next few hours were the most terrifying in Hannah’s life. Castielle cried and screamed until her voice was hoarse. Blood stained the sheets under her. Hannah and Hana both encouraged her to push but as the hours passed, Castielle was losing strength. Jack kept a hand on Castielle’s belly, using his nephilim powers to give her the strength to keep going. Hannah wondered if Castielle would have been able to survive if Jack hadn’t been there.

Finally, with one last effort, Castielle pushed hard and suddenly the room was filled with the sound of a wailing infant. Castiel picked the baby up and rushed off to clean the child as Hannah comforted an exhausted new mother while she collapsed back into the pillows. Her energy had been utterly spent, but she was alive, and the baby was alive and that’s all that mattered to Hannah. 

“You did it,” Hannah said with a smile as Hana carefully cleaned Castielle up and then draped her naked body with a blanket. “You did it… you’ll both be okay now.”

Castielle smiled, though she was too exhausted to do anything else. Hannah noticed that the Winchesters had left the room, she wasn’t sure when they disappeared, but she remembered them being there for the entire birth. And she felt grateful for their help. She felt delighted with the fact that she and Hana could now devote themselves to Castielle’s care for the duration. 

Moments later, Castiel returned holding a small bundle of blankets. Jack was at his side as the angel moved over and handed the baby to Castielle. “We have a daughter,” he announced happily. Castielle eagerly accepted her child into her arms and Hannah leaned in to peer into a tiny face. The baby opened her cerulean blue eyes and smiled at the faces that crowded her view.

“I have a sister,” Jack proclaimed, glancing at Castiel for confirmation. Castiel grinned and nodded, draping an arm across the Nephilim’s shoulders. 

“Yes you do,” Castiel agreed. Hannah couldn’t help but agree as well. They were now a family of six. 

“She’s perfect,” Castielle murmured as she cuddled the infant and glanced between Hannah and Hana.

“She’s important,” Castiel replied. “She was conceived during our harshest times. And She’s the first angel to be born. She’s heaven’s hope.”

“I think I should name her Abigail,” Castielle replied with a smile as she peered into the baby’s face. “An angel’s name. Do you think heaven will approve?”

Hannah shrugged with a sigh. Heaven rarely approved of anything they did. “We… should probably keep this to ourselves for now,” she replied, leaning in to kiss Castielle on the forehead. “I don’t know how Heaven will react and we need her to be safe.”

Hannah crawled into the bed and pulled Castielle into her arms and the other woman leaned against her, placing the baby between them. Castiel came around to where Hannah had been and carefully tucked the two women in. Jack perched at the foot of the bed. 

“This wasn’t so bad,” Castielle said after a while as she glanced at Hannah. “I… don’t think I’d mind going through it again some day. Or maybe next time, you could try it.”

Hannah frowned as she thought of that. She didn’t know if another child would be possible. After all, Castielle was only able to conceive after her and Hana’s angelic grace had been depleted, and it had been very risky bringing this child to term. But, as she gazed down at the baby, now asleep in both of their arms, she realized she would like the chance to experience it, risks and all. “We’ll see,” she responded. As Castiel, Hana, and Jack gathered around them. “This child wasn’t supposed to be possible. She is here against all odds.”

Castielle smiled. The family fell into silence, each of them lost in thought. Hannah felt happy for the first time in a very long time. She knew that even though the physical wounds of the world they had escaped from had long since faded, the emotional wounds would be imprinted on her forever. She’d never be able to forget the torture and the torment. But if there was one thing she was grateful for from that world, it was Castielle and Hana. They were products of that world. Hannah still didn’t know what them being here would mean, if there would be consequences for them all later, but right now that didn’t matter. All that mattered right now was that her family was safe and happy. 

Whatever would happen in the future, they’d all face it together.


End file.
